


Thanks For The Memories

by Falicefanatic



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Brainwashing, Cult, Down on The Farm, F/M, Hippies, cult hippies, post2x22
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-08 16:56:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15247728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Falicefanatic/pseuds/Falicefanatic
Summary: Alice needs help. She just wants to forget. Forget the pain, the hardships, FP...So when a strange man from The Farm shows up at her door and offers to make it all go away, she accepts. But he doesn't have as pure intentions as he let on. Also there's something oddly familiar about him. So a memoryless Alice and a determined mopey boy named FP team up to save their son and put an end to this Farm bullshit. Those damn hippies.





	Thanks For The Memories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Introvertedfangirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Introvertedfangirl/gifts).



> Ayeeee I remembered an edgy title this time. Look at me go. This is what I wanted to happen for season three, but that ship has sailed now that the health guru person has a name and is confirmed to be in his late 30s...

Alice Cooper—no, Smith…damn she’s going to have to get used to that—stares across her kitchen table, lost in thought. Her husband is the Black Hood. Her EX-husband is the Black Hood. She lived with a serial killer for 25 years. And he wasn’t even a good serial killer! In fact, he was a mediocre serial killer at best, as he was at everything in life.

How did she not notice before? Hal had never been good at keeping secrets. He had as much stealth as a lumbering giant. Yet she didn’t see anything. She thought the worst thing he did was cheat on her with his deceased cousin’s widow and give her flowers she’s allergic to. Yet there he was, hands on her throat and threatening murder. He’s always been a classy man like that.

“Mom!” Polly shouts at her from across the kitchen table, derailing Alice’s train of thought.

Alice looks over at her daughter and shoots her a disappointed glare. “There’s no need to shout, Polly, I’m right next to you.”

“Your body may be next to me, but your mind is certainly elsewhere. I had to shout because I was calling your name for five minutes and you weren’t responding.” Polly reaches over to grab Alice’s hand, “Are you okay, mom?”

“I’m fine. I’m just worried about Betty, it’s getting dark out and she’s not home yet.” Alice lies. She doesn’t want to place her worries on her daughter, not when she’s finally come back to her after she left, then came back, then left, then came back, and then left again.

“Mother,” Polly says in a low, serious voice. She squeezes Alice’s hand a light tighter. “There’s no need to lie to me. I’m an adult now; an adult with two children even. You don’t need to protect me any longer. I’m a big, tough girl; I can tie my own sandals and everything.” Polly drops her serious expression to laugh at her last statement.

Alice, who is clearly puzzled says confused, “But you don’t tie sandals?”

Polly laughs again. “It’s a quote from a Disney movie, mom. Come on, we used to make you watch Hercules with us like all the time. I don’t know how you can claim Meg to be your favorite Disney character if you can’t quote all her lines on command.”

“Oh that’s right, how terrible of me.” Alice agrees, more than happy to change the subject. “But I am able to recall my favorite line of hers: ‘my friends call me Meg, at least they would if I had any’.” Alice’s grin begins to fade. She had been proud a few years ago, even a few weeks ago, to say that she had no friends. She prided herself on her independence and her wit that usually drove people away. But now she could really use a friend. She would never admit that out loud of course, but with everything going on she could really use someone…anyone. 

She can feel her eyes start to water. She’s now well acquainted with the feeling. God, why is she always crying? She is a grown-ass woman. Adults don’t cry. Yet here she is, in front of her daughter, fighting back tears that were caused by what? A fucking Disney movie.

“Mom?” Polly asks, her laughter stopping once she notices the sadness painted on Alice’s face, “Talk to me, what’s happening? I never know what you’re feeling. Please, mom, I want to help.”

Alice doesn’t want her daughter to see her like this. She always tried to be a model for her girls. Someone who they could look up to and depend on. She’s supposed to be a strong, independent woman. And right now, she’s being weak. Every week seems to bring a new crisis for her, hitting her hard, and her carefully crafted armor is falling. Her 25 years are crumbling as fast as her marriage did. The last thing she wants to do is pull her daughter any farther into this mess she’s created.

“Mom.” Polly gets out of her chair and walks over to Alice. She wraps her arms around her, looking into her sad eyes. “Please. You can trust me.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just so damn hard to watch everything you’ve worked for in life to disappear.” Alice says, wiping her stupid tears off her face. “I feel like I let you down; let Betty down; let Riverdale down.” Alice can’t believe she’s doing this in front of her daughter. But once there’s a nick in the armor, everything just starts flowing out and there’s nothing she can do to stop it. And there’s no one better at opening up her armor than FP. FP whom she hasn’t even heard from since her last breakdown. FP who probably wants nothing to do with her since he’s had time to realize that she’s a murderer too. FP who never got to meet his son, all because of her. 

“Mom.” Polly says gently once Alice begins to cry harder. “You didn’t let us down. It wasn’t your fault. None of us knew that dad was the Black Hood either. You didn’t do anything wrong. There’s nothing you could’ve done.”

“I could’ve done something.” Alice mumbles, no longer talking about her failure of a serial killer husband. No, she’s thinking about FP, she’s always thinking about FP. She’s hasn’t stopped thinking about him since the moment she ever laid eyes on him. 

“Mom, this ‘could’ve would’ve should’ve’ thinking isn’t good.” Polly says to Alice. Yet Alice can barely hear her over her own rushing thoughts. “I think you might need some help. Remember that guy I told you about? From the farm? He helped me out so much after I found out about Jason. I think he would be really good for you.”

“Hmmm.” Alice mumbles, not hearing most of what Polly is trying to tell her. She’s honestly trying her damn hardest to listen, but a certain mopey boy with mischief sparking in his deep brown eyes is blocking every thought process.

“I can go get him for you if you want.” Polly says, letting go of her grip on Alice, “There’s no phones allowed at The Farm, so I’ll have to drive there but I was going to leave soon anyway. I think Juniper and Dagwood miss it, I know I certainly do. What do you say. Mom?” Polly furls her brow when Alice doesn’t respond. She slightly nudges Alice, brining her back to reality. “Mom, what do you say? Does it sound like something you want?”

“Oh yeah, great.” Alice replies quickly. She doesn’t want her daughter thinking that she wasn’t listening. Polly was already kind enough to comfort her, Alice doesn’t want to seem rude for not even hearing a word she said.

“Perfect.” Polly says with a smile. Her arms release Alice as she stands up. “I’ll leave right away then.” She quickly kisses Alice once on the cheek. “Bye, mom.” Alice feels her heart sink a little deeper. Polly is leaving her already. She’ll be all alone once again. Wow wouldn’t anti-friend past Alice be so goddman proud of her.

“Can I at least say goodbye to my grandchildren?” Alice asks with a sigh. Maybe one day she’ll get to see her grandkids for one full week before they’re taken away from her.

“Of course!” Polly grins and leads Alice over to the family room where the two precious bundles are sleeping peacefully. 

Alice looms over the crib, trying not to wake them up. These two never cease to fill her with happiness. These two precious beans in front of her are the only good things that have ever come out of Riverdale in the past year. How is it that a place as horrid and twisted as Riverdale could ever produce these two innocent, prefect human beings. This town doesn’t deserve these adorable children or their tiny chubby baby hands that loosely grasp the hand of the other twin. These two are too pure. This moment is too pure. Polly is right, they need to go back to The Farm. They need to go anywhere that isn’t Riverdale. Anywhere where Alice isn’t, because she seems to ruin everything she touches.

Polly reaches down to pick one up for Alice to hold. Alice opens her arms to receive a small Juniper. She stirs in his sleep and her eyelids flutter briefly but stay closed. Her tiny hand wraps around Alice’s thumb. Her soft hand soothes Alice and all her worries seem to drift away.

“And here’s Dagwood.” Polly whispers, after Alice places a soft kiss on Juniper’s small forehead. Polly lowers Dagwood into Alice’s arms and then buckles the sleeping Juniper into her car seat.

Little Dagwood opens his eyes the moment she holds him. He looks up at her and sleepily rubs his soft brown eyes. He lets out a small cry before drifting off back to sleep. Alice begins to think about the other time she held a baby boy with soft brown eyes like that. Just as she suspected, her thoughts end up ruining this perfect moment. Just like she somehow manages to ruin everything. 

Alice holds Dagwood closer to her and he begins to cry. 

“Oh baby, it’s okay.” Polly says in the kind of voice only reserved for dogs and babies. She grabs him under his arms and lifts him away from Alice.

“No, wait, I’ve changed my mind! Don’t take him!” Alice cries out instinctively, her mind cruelly recreating the day she gave up Charles. Her voice is panicked and frazzled. Why can’t she seem to distinguish the past from the present? This is not Charles. She is not in high school. This is not her child. What this is, is Alice making a fool out of herself and scaring her daughter. She looks over at Polly, who looks equal parts confused and concerned.

“Mom? What are you talking about?” Polly asks, slightly taken aback. 

“Sorry, I just wanted to make sure that I get to kiss my grandson before he leaves.” Alice tries to recover. She flashes a fake ass smile at Polly that is fooling nobody. Polly hesitantly lowers Dagwood back over to Alice. Alice kisses him on his forehead as well.

They walk out to Polly’s car together. Polly watches as Alice carefully secures the car seats. Apparently, they don’t use cars that often on The Farm. Damn hippies.

“It was good seeing you, mom.” Polly says as she gives Alice a tight squeeze. “Take care.”

“Be safe.” Alice calls out to her. Polly smiles at her and waves after she closes the door. And with that, the only bits of happiness in Alice’s life drive away.

 

“Betty?” Alice asks the next morning when she sees Betty trying to sneak out the front door with her keys. “Where are you going? I just made breakfast.” Alice’s entire life may be going up in flames, but goddamn it, she’s going to have their usually breakfast if it kills her. She needs some piece of her old life to keep her slightly sane.

“I need to go meet Jughead. We’re eating breakfast at Pops.” Betty answers casually.

“But I let you go to Pops with him last night.” Alice says. She can’t have Betty leaving now. This can’t be her first breakfast alone in 25 years. She can’t lose this. “Can’t you see him after breakfast? It really won’t take that long.”

“What the fuck, mom?” Betty says in her disgusted voice she seems to reserve special for Alice. “Jughead almost died a few weeks ago and he’s in a lot of pain. He needs me more than you need your stupid breakfast.”

“That singular scratch on his face must be really bothering him.” Alice snaps. She is not playing this game with her. She is her mother and it’s time Betty starts treating her as such.

“I’m leaving and there’s nothing you can do!” Betty shouts like a tantrum throwing three-year-old, flinging open the front door. The door doesn’t open all the way, for some reason it hits something. That doesn’t stop Betty though, she pushes through the door without a second of hesitation.

“No comment!” Betty shouts at whatever was blocking the door. 

“Elizabeth Cooper, you come back here or else you’re grounded!” Alice shouts after her. She runs over to the door to see Betty climbing into her car and speed off. Why does Betty always do this? The second Betty and Jughead started dating she demoted everything not involving him as beneath her time, including manners and common decency. Alice sighs and starts to close the door.

“Wait, are you Alice Cooper?” A voice calls out from behind the door. What the fuck? Alice peers around the door to see a man with long sun kissed golden brown curls that loosely cover his ears. His lips surrounded by light brown scruff turn up in a confused smile. Alice stares at him. Where has she seen this man before?

“Why have you been standing behind my door?” Alice glares, suddenly suspicious of this strangely familiar man. He must be a reporter. Those vultures have been nothing but trouble.

“I’m a friend of Polly Cooper.” He answers cautiously. “Do you happen to know where Alice Cooper is? I might’ve mixed up the directions. I’m so sorry to have bothered you.”

“Smith.” Alice answers plainly, not buying his story.

“Pardon?” The man asks confused.

“Alice Smith, not Cooper.”

“Are you Alice Smith? Or do you know her?” The man asks, getting even more puzzled and slightly agitated. “Can you please help me out here, I don’t live in Riverdale.”

“I’ll help you out by giving you some advice: leave. You don’t want to be in Riverdale if you don’t have to.” Alice begins to shut the door on this annoying man.

“Wait, Alice.” The man calls out, putting his hand in the door. “I’m just going to assume you’re Alice, based on what Polly’s told me. I promised Polly that I would help you. You see I’m very good with helping people forget about things and seeing the bright side. Please give me a chance. I swear I can help you. Please, I already drove out here from The Farm. I really don’t’ want to have to drive back with nothing but disappointing news.”

“You’re from The Farm, that explains things.” Alice mutters. Of course, these crazy cult people would show up at her door. She would send him away, but she doesn’t want to do anything that might upset Polly or push her away. “What’s your name even?”

“Charmander.” The man-boy answers with a smile. Alice rolls her eyes; he probably thinks he got through to her or some bullshit like that. Once again, damn hippies.

“You must’ve had terrible parents.” Alice mutters under her breath. “Only parents who wanted to watch their child suffer would’ve named their kid that ridiculous name.” She swears that Charmander is the name of one of those fire dragon lizard things in Pokémon. Archie was obsessed with Pokémon and he would bring over his cards everyday to explain the dumb game to Polly. Once he even tried to teach Alice. That did not go over well.

“What’d you say?” Charmander asks, stepping through the door into the house.

“What’s your last name?” Alice questions. Maybe she knows his parents and that’s why he looks familiar.

“I don’t have one.” He answers proudly.

“That’s bullshit, everyone has a last name.” God, this man child is annoying.

“Well on The Farm,” the man-child begins in a pretentious voice. “we believe that we are all a part of one family. Last names only try to separate us.” 

“My previous statement still stands.” Alice rolls her eyes. “Just tell me what your old last name was.”

“At The Farm, we concentrate on the present, not the past.” Char-whatever replies, not answering her question at all. “The past is in the past.”

“You’re not going to tell me, are you.” Alice sighs. Why is this Pokémon fire creature so stubborn?

“There’s nothing to tell.”

“You know for someone who’s supposed to be helping me, you sure are annoying.” Before the FireLizard can open his mouth to spout off another phrase that should be embroidered on a pillow, Alice asks, “Would you want to have some breakfast? I have too much here for one person. My dear daughter Betty decided that she also doesn’t want to be a part of this family anymore.”

“Well actually she’s still in the family, because we are all one. Our ties are-“

Alice interrupts him right there. “I swear to god, child, I will kick your ass out of this house if you even think about saying that slogan again. Sit down and eat some pancakes or leave.” He finally just nods his head and sits down. At least there’s someone in this world who still listens to her.

“Are you from Riverdale? Did we go to the same grocery store or something? Did you go to Riverdale High?” This man-child is too familiar to not have bumped into him somewhere. Granted he said he doesn’t live in Riverdale, but he might’ve grown up here.

“My life is on The Farm.” He answers as he slaughters his pancakes with a tidal wave of syrup.

“Why can’t you just answer the damn question? It’s not hard!” Alice is getting agitated with these answers that don’t actually answer anything.

“See, Alice, this is your problem!” FireLizard goes from zero to sixty. His harsh yelling causes Alice to jump back in her chair in shock. “You are too focused on the past. You can’t change the past! There’s no need to ever bring it up. That’s why you’re having all these problems. So what? Your husband was a murderer. That shouldn’t affect you now! Are you still married? No. Is he out roaming the streets? No. Forget about him. He does not matter anymore, and the sooner you realize this, the sooner you can get on with your life. Where are your daughters? Where are the people you care about? I don’t see Polly, and Betty just stormed out that door. Look at yourself! You’re losing everything over something dumb that’s happened in the past that you have no control over now. Let. It. Go.” There’s nothing but silence after he finishes his rant.

But once Alice has time to digest what he’s said, she begins to get equally enraged. “Listen here, FireLizard! You don’t get to tell me how to live my life. You haven’t been in my shoes…or whatever metaphor you hippies like to use. You have absolutely no idea what I’m going through. You’re right, I don’t care about Hal, he’s not my concern anymore. What my concern is, is that… Neverminded.” Alice stops talking, suddenly acutely aware that she was about to spill all her secrets to this random stranger who won’t even tell her his last name. 

“Alice, please, you can trust me.” FireLizard says softly, finally calm. “On The Farm we have people from all walks of life joining together in harmony. I won’t judge. And Polly is one of my good friends and this is very important to her.” She jerks her gaze away from his eyes and shakes her head. No way in hell is this person getting any HotGos from her. But at the same time she feels strangely compelled to tell him everything.

“Alice, please.” She looks back over at him and his warm brown eyes rush over her, soothing her. Something about him seems familiar, comforting, safe. She’s just met this person; how can he feel like home? This is madness to trust this utter stranger. All he’s doing is self-promoting his damn cult. She should tell this creep to get he fuck out of her house. Why is she not? Why is she letting him eat her coveted breakfast? Why does she feel the sudden urge to confide in this overgrown child?

“There’s this man.” Alice begins with a reluctant sigh.

“There always is.” FireLizard interrupts with a smug all-knowing smile on his face. This dumbass hasn’t learned yet not to say stupid shit like that around her.

“I’m not some damn cliché, keep your mouth shut.” Alice glares at him and he puts his hands up in defeat. “Anyway, he always seems to stir up drama whenever he’s near me. He did in high school and he’s doing it now. The last time I saw him before this year was 25 years ago. And in those 25 years I managed to build a beautiful family from the ground up. And then 25 years later, he comes along into my life once again and in only a few months, those 25 years are wiped out.”

“Is this your ex-husband then?” FireLizard interrupts yet again with his not-asked-for comments. “Because I don’t see how you can blame anyone but him for his murders.”

“I’m not talking about that sorry excuse for a person.” Alice snaps. “I know damn well that he’s the only one who murdered people, that wasn’t my point. My life was turned upside down months before Hal felt the need to start the Riverdale Purge of 2016™.”

“So, Jason?” The man-child just won’t stop. “Isn’t he the one whose death plummeted Riverdale into madness?”

“’Jason wasn’t even 25, you dumbass, just let me finish. ‘I won’t judge you’ my ass!” Alice grumbles.

“Okay, okay, you’re right, I’ll be silent.” FireLizard pretends to zip his lips. It would’ve been cute…on a five-year-old. 

“It’s not like he went away, he was always in Riverdale. But he kept his head in the Southside and a bottle in his hand, so I never saw him. And I guess you are right about Jason’s death starting everything, because he played a role in that. Which then led to my darling daughter playing detective and skipping school to try and piece together the mystery. And of course the one to help her would be his son.”

“Hold on, Alice.” FireLizard interrupts her once again, earning a frustrated sigh from Alice. “I’m having a hard time grasping the significance of this person to you. Could you start the story from the beginning, instead of the middle?”

“That would take all day then.” Alice laughs. “There’s not enough time in the world.”

“Condensed version then.” FireLizard says simply. Like her relationship with FP was simple and not the flaming mess it actually is.

“I don’t know, I’ve never said this to anyone.” Alice admits. Now that she’s really thinking about it, it would be nice to finally tell someone about it.

“Come on, I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s happening.” FireLizard pleads. “All I know is that some guy you knew in like high school has a son who’s friends with your daughter. So I’m not getting the whole picture here. Not even a fraction of it.”

“Maybe that’s for the better.” Alice suggests, still not entirely on board with this whole sharing thing.

“Come on, at least tell me his name.” FireLizard coaxes gently.

“Forsythe Pendleton Jones II, but he goes by FP, he likes to think he’s real cool.” Alice smiles at that. FP and his dumbass name.

“Okay there’s something.” FireLizard nods. “Describe him to me.”

“Average height, brown hair,” Alice begins. 

“Describe him like only you know.” FireLizard clarifies.

That’s all it takes for Alice to really get going. “His mouth only has two options. He’s usually smirking. Like I said, he thinks he’s real smart all the time and that everything’s a joke. It’s the most infuriating thing ever because most of the time he’s smirking at me. Making jokes at my expense. I much rather prefer it when he smiles. Like a real smile, not the fake ones he always puts on. The real one that takes over his entire face and it’s so wide that you can see his teeth and his eyes start to crinkle. Oh god, his eyes; they’re such a warm deep chocolate color. They just seem to sooth everything. And his hair is just the right length. It’s not long enough to fall into his eyes, but it’s not short enough where you can’t run your fingers through it. Which he always does whenever he’s nervous. It’s how I can always tell when he’s lying. He’s never been able to get away with lying to me.”

“So I’m getting the feeling that FP is more than your classmate or exfriend.” FireLizard suggests.

“I mean we were friends for most of the time.” So FireLizard wasn’t so far off the mark. “He grew up a few houses away from me. We both lived on the Southside.” Alice begins to think back to when they first met. The memory rushes over her and blocks all her other senses. The face of FireLizard vanishes and in its place is Riverdale 38 years ago. “We met when we weren’t any older than 5. 

“I hear him screaming outside and at first I try to ignore it because I’m trying to finish reading the newest book that arrived at the library. But he keeps screaming and screaming until I just can’t take it anymore. 

“So, I go out excepting something terrible happening. But all I see is 5-year-old FP running from our neighbor’s dog. The poor dog just wants to play but FP is terrified of dogs. So 5 year old me rolls my eyes and walks over to them. FP is trying to climb over a fence, but his shorts gets stuck on all the rusty wires poking out. That’s his grand plan of escaping the dog, so I decide to help him. All I have to do is call the dog’s name and the sweet girl runs over to me. I pet her head and she happily goes on her merry way back to her house. 

“But there’s still the matter of FP on the fence. I yell at the scared boy on top of the fence that he can come down now since the scary puppy is now gone. He tries to free himself from the fence but ends up tearing off his pant leg and falling to the ground. This just causes him to go from screaming to crying, which isn’t much better. I assume he’s crying because he’s hurt, so I run into my house to grab a water bottle, a handful of old band aids, and some tape. Then I run over to him and try to find any cuts, but the only one I see is just a surface cut along his leg that I quickly wash off with water and tape a band aid on. But he’s still crying, and I can’t get him to stop. 

“So, I decide to do the one thing my mom does when I would cry. I raise my fist and shout. ‘You better stop crying right now, or I’ll give you something to actually cry about.’ He automatically covers his face and tries to stop crying. I go for the softer approach this time and ask why he’s’ so upset. 

“He then whispers, ‘I ripped my only shorts and my dad is going to kill me.’ I may not be able to understand his terror of dogs, but I am definitely able to share this fear with him. 

“‘I have a pair of shorts that kind of look like yours. You can have them if you want.’ I offer the sad little boy who hasn’t stopped crying. 

“He looks up at me with the saddest brown eyes ever. ‘Won’t you get in trouble?’ he asks softly, wiping his eyes on the soiled large jacket he’s wearing. 

“‘No, I have tons of shorts! I get my cousin’s old clothes. My aunt ships them all the way over here from FLORIDA.’ I say proudly.

“‘Whoa, Florida.’ The boy whispers, just as amazed at Florida as I am. And for the first time I see his lips twitch up in a smile. 

“Now that he’s finally calm, I stick out my little arm at him and say, ‘Alice Smith.’ 

“He takes my hand and gives it a few firm pumps up and down. ‘Forsythe Pendleton Jones II.’

“I crinkle my nose at it. ‘Thanks really long.’

“’It is,’ he agrees with a solemn nod. ‘But you can call me FP. That’s what all my dad’s friends call me.’

“’FP it is then.’ I reply, and our handshake turns into me pulling him off the ground. ‘Now let’s get you some shorts.’

“I lead him over to my house and we climb up the creaky staircase to my room. 

“‘Are you sure your parents won’t mind?’ FP whispers cautiously and glances around for him.

“‘It’s just my mom and she never home during the day; she’ll never know.’ I reply as I rummage through a large cardboard box full of my clothes. I finally pull out the black shorts I was looking for and throw them at him. FP catches them and after one more round of reassurance that my mom won’t find out, he takes off his single legged torn shorts and puts on mine.

“‘See.’ I grin. ‘They look the same.’ I motion to the large mirror that’s perched against my wall. He examines himself in his new shorts and breaks out into another smile when he finally decides that they pass the test.

“‘I love you, Alice Smith!’ he suddenly shouts and grabs me in a hug. ‘We’re best friends now.’

“‘We are?’ I ask confused. I’ve never really had friends but from what I’ve learned in my books, you can’t just decide to be best friends, it takes years to even be considered good friends.

“‘Yeah, we share pants now and only BEST friends share pants.’ FP reasons.

“‘I guess that makes sense.’ I agree.

“So then the next day-“

“Alice.” FireLizard says, popping the memory She was having and bringing her back to reality. “As much as I thoroughly enjoyed that very endearing and touching story of yours, it’s been 30 minutes and you’re currently 5 years old in your story. And I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you are not currently 5, so I’m going to need you to just stick to the highlights please.”

Alice rolls her eyes at the inconsiderate man-child. He was the one who told her to open up and now he has the audacity to command her to just skim over everything. “We’re friends. We grow up. We get in a special gifted program that allows us to go to Riverdale High instead of Southside High. He’s the star of the football team and I run the school paper. He dates. I date. We can’t deal with the other one dating. We date each other. He gets in with the Serpents. I get in with the Serpents. A drug run goes bad and we get caught. I get arrested. He then takes the fall for me. I get mad at him for taking the fall because he loses his college recruitments because of it. I try and get out of the Serpents while he goes farther in them. I get mad and tell him that it’s them or me. He doesn’t pick me. I date Hal Cooper. Three months later I find out I’m four months pregnant. I go away to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy because the Coopers wouldn’t dare have me soiling their perfect image. I come back to school and graduate on time and with honors. FP leaves for the army and I leave for college.”

Once Alice finishes her monotoned “highlight reel” of her relationship with FP, she looks over at FireLizard who seems overwhelmed. 

“Huh well that certainly is a back story and honestly a lot more than I was expecting but we can work with this.” FireLizard says slowly but confident in himself. “But first I need to know, what the hell are the Serpents?”

“A Southside gang.”

“You were in a gang?” FireLizard narrows his eyes at Alice like he doesn’t believe her.

“I was 17 and stupid. What was I supposed to do?” she snaps at him.

“I don’t know, go to school and do your homework like normal kids. Maybe learn how to embroider things.” FireLizard suggests. “NOT join a drug dealing gang.”

“I thought the Serpents would give me money and safety, both things I desperately needed then.” Alice snaps. She’s not hanging this hippie judge her life.

“Fair, fair.”

“So about that other bombshell you just casually dropped. Does FP know that you had his child?”

“Well that skips all the way to last month.” Alice’s voice catches, and she can feel herself starting to tremble. “A couple of months ago my daughter suggested that I find my son, I named him- his name is Charles, and we find this boy who is about his age. I tell him I’m his mother and then he turns me away. But then he comes back, and he forgives me and I spend everyday with him. And I care for him and make him breakfast and do everything I never got to do with my son. And I love this boy, but then it turns out he’s not my son. My son—Charles—is… he’s dead. And I’m the one who killed him.”

“If you knew you killed him then why did you think the other person was your son. You’re not making any sense.” FireLizard says confused.

“I didn’t know.” Alice sighs as her tears wet her face. “He came to visit me, and I turned him away. I thought he was trying to sell something or ask for something and I just told him to leave. He tried to talk to me, but I just threw the door at his face. And I told…I told FP this. I went straight to him and told him everything. The only thing he could say was ‘okay.’ And then he asked to keep the picture I showed him of Charles. That was the last time I talked with FP.”

FireLizard takes a second to digest this. He then looks at Alice and grabs her hand. "Alice, I need you to tell me this truthfully. Are you in love with this man? Does he play any role in your future life? I need to know this before I do anything else."

"He doesn't feel the same way." Alice averts her gaze from his by ducking her head down in shame. She should feel guilty. It was her fault for the mess she's caused. 

"That's not what I asked." FireLizard patiently says.

"He has things to do and so do I.” Alice tries to reason to both FireLizard and herself. “His son was really hurt, almost died even, and he had to deal with that. Not to mention he’s in shock over me telling him about our son.”

“Is he still in critical condition?” FireLizard asks.

“No." Alice sighs, knowing where this is going. She knows the answers to all the questions are going to lead her to a truth she's known but hasn't wanted to pull into the light so quickly. Denial is what she's best at and this new tactic of his is pulling everything out of her. "He hasn't been for a while."

"And FP hasn't stopped by to check on you. Even though he's known for weeks now that your husband-“ 

"Ex-husband." Alice corrects. She's not married to a serial killer. Hal is not her husband.

"He's known that your EX husband," FireLizard starts, putting extra emphasis on that ex for Alice. "Was the Black Hood and tried to kill you. Yet he didn’t check up on you.”

It wasn't a question more as it was a statement of fact. Alice just nods her head slowly once to confirm. 

"Alice." He says calmly and slowly, almost like he doesn't expect her to understand him if he talks any faster. "You said he's in shock, but you've given him months to mull this over. And even if he was in shock, there's no way that if he feels as strongly as you, that he wouldn't come over. Now did you check on him?"

"Yes." Alice whispers. "But he doesn't know that. I dropped Betty off at the hospital the day before Jughead was released and stopped by his room. FP seemed fine and happy. I didn't want to go in there and change that. Remind him of the kid that he did lose."

"Alice, you know this feeling of unwantedness and guilt shouldn't be happening to you. You've done nothing wrong. But what you need to do now is accept that what you guys once had is in the past. Being hung up on it will do nothing for you."

"You can't just forget things like this." Images of every step of her life with FP swirl in her head, from their first meeting to their last. The ups and the many downs. "I can't."

"You know I've been told I was just like that when I first came to The Farm. So hung up on the past. On the hurt. On the memories ingrained in my mind."

Alice snorts, "Sure doesn't seem like it." FireLizard is basically the poster child of seizing the day.

"No, it's true, I would never lie to you.” FireLizard raises up his fingers in a Scouts Honor pose. “I went under some treatment and now I can't even remember those memories."

Alice frowns. That doesn't seem normal, to not remember anything. "What kind of treatment?" She asks suspiciously. 

"It's really simple actually. I just hook you up to this here machine." FireLizard whips out a small case and pops it open to reveal a small device with a bunch of wires sticking out of it.

"What the fuck do you just carry that around with you?" Alice stutters. This has got the be the strangest person she’s ever met.

"Just when I think I'll need it." FireLizard smiles. "So, what do you say?"

“That thing doesn’t look safe.” Alice states, eyeing the strange machine.

"It just gives a slight shock. I administer the shock when you think of those hurtful memories. So, then the brain learns that thinking of them is actually painful, expecting a shock. Therefore, your brain refuses to remember those memories in order to protect itself. Basically, erasing it from your memory." FireLizard explains.

"That seems super fake." Alice frowns. She doesn’t trust this. “And painful.”

"No it's proven to work." FireLizard assures her. “It’s also not painful, the shocks only go to the part of your brain that stores your memories and the senses there, bypassing the areas that control your senses for the rest of your body. It feels like a mild headache at best”

"So you can basically wipe a person’s bad memories out.” This is starting to sound good to Alice.

"But I need all your memories, not just the ones that hurt. I’m going to need to get rid of all your memories about Charles and FP.” 

"Why..." Alice isn’t sure if she can give up all the memories, because even though things aren’t so great now with FP, they once were. And if she doesn’t remember Charles who will? She doesn’t want him to be forgotten forever.

"They might lead to the other ones." FireLizard responds coolly. "It's not 100% effective yet, technically they're still there." This is turning into a much bigger erasing than Alice wanted. But it’s something she needs to do. She needs to do this for her family’s future.

“I’m do it.” Alice says softly, yet firmly.

“Excellent!” FireLizard exclaims and wastes no time hooking the wires up to Alice’s head.

Once they’re all stuck snuggly to her head FireLizard asks, "So Alice, tell me, when was the first time you ever met Forsythe Pendleton Jones II?"

"I heard him screaming…" Alice starts explaining the story of how they first met again.  
The small skinny boy enters her mind, wearing a worn-out jacket with holes all over it.  
All of a sudden, her body jumps. 

"Fuck." She exclaims reaching up to take out those damn electrodes. FireLizard grabs her hand. 

"Not yet." He says firmly. "The first one is the worst. I promise."

Alice relaxes a little and FireLizard says, "Go on can you still remember it?"

The boy's warm eyes enter her mind. Clouded with fear over the dog. They flash around frantically searching for somewhere to run. 

Another shock. 

He was right, this didn't hurt as much, it just scared her. 

"How did you meet?" FireLizard asks again.

"He was running from something." Alice replies and then frowns. He looks scared but what was he scared of. Was he scared of her? But she can see his scrawny short legs jump on the fence, but his black shorts get stuck. 

Snap. She flinches. 

"How did you meet FP Jones?"

"He's. He's." She tries to think. Shit how did they meet? They were neighbors and went to the same school. How did they meet?"

"He was my neighbor we probably just ran into each other." Alice replies, not able to find the exact answer. A fuzzy image of a small boy fills her mind for a bit, but he vanishes. FireLizard smiles at her. 

"Very good, Alice." He whispers. “Now what's the earliest memory you have of FP?”

It's a long process. There's a hell of a lot of memories to go through. 

"Who's FP Jones?" FireLizard asks. The sun has already started to go down. They completely forgot about lunch. The breakfast plates are still on the table, not put away.

"He's this man.” Alice says, slightly unsure of herself. Everything is so hazy. “I saw him last week. He didn't see me though. I don't know why I didn't go into that room. I really wanted to. I don't know why it scared me. But he was happy. His smile was over his entire face when he saw that his son was fine."

A slight shock. She could barely feel it now. 

"Who's FP Jones?" FireLizard asks.

"He's this man I saw at the hospital when I took Betty to see her boyfriend." Alice replies.

Snap. Alice doesn’t even feel that one this time.

"Who's FP Jones?" he repeats.

"Who?" Alice asks confused. The name doesn’t sound familiar.

FireLizard smiles. "FP Jones. Do you know him?"

"Not personally but his son dates my daughter I think.” Alice guesses, never one to not have an answer. “I mean how many Joneses can there be in Riverdale?”

"Have you ever met him?" FireLizard asks.

"No but I've met his son." Alice replies confidently this time.

"Do you know what he looks like? Explain him to me." FireLizard demands.

"I told you, I've never seen him." Alice says, now frustrated. She's already answered the same question. How the fuck is she supposed to know what this guy looks like if she's never seen him? And she doesn't want to meet him, Betty's told her that he wasn't the greatest dad to Jughead.

"What were we doing again?" Alice asks, ready to change the topic. 

"We were discussing the future.” FireLizard smiles an eerily large smile at her and removes the wires. “And speaking of the future, I think you should move to The Farm."

"I have responsibilities." Alice mutters. “I can’t just leave.”

"You can do all your responsibilities at The Farm. Betty can come too. We have a great education system. Most students can get into any college they apply to. A lot better than the failing education system here in Riverdale.” FireLizard points out.

"But all Betty's friends are here." Alice argues.

"But she's also surrounded by this toxic town. All people think about when they look at her is that her dad was the Black Hood. She deserves more than that. You deserve more than that too. You've already said that everything's in ruins. You need to start fresh. This is the place of new beginnings."

Alice is about to argue back but with what point? For the first time in her life she can't think of any counter argument and it seems almost peaceful? She's fought tooth and nail for every decision in her life; what if she loosens the reigns a little? Is this what it feels like to surrender and go with the flow? It feels...nice. Her mind isn't hurting her, and she doesn't feel annoyed or frustrated. Those are her two main emotions. Granted, this weird cult hippie guy in front of her who has a dumbass name isn't the picture of success. But he does seem peaceful. And relaxed. And confident. Alice wants that. She wants it so damn much. For her and her. They've tried things her way and nothing's worked out. What if they try things a different way?

Before she can respond, the door creaks open. Light footsteps fill the room once the door closes shut. 

Betty walks into the kitchen and Alice turns to greet her.

"Welcome back, Betty," Alice says with the largest smile she's ever had on her face. Her twinkling eyes stare at the frightened girl. "now pack your things we're moving to The Farm tomorrow."

**Author's Note:**

> I live and breath for Disney's Hercules. 10/10 doctors would recommend it if you haven't seen it. Also FP will be in the next chapter so don't worry. He's just being fashionably late, as per usual.


End file.
